Voicethread is one of the best
tools available online for
education and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free too!!

Produced by Suzie Vesper
http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com
Produced by Suzie Vesper

http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com

Updated 17 October 2012

Voicethread Overview
What is Voicethread?
A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that is stored and accessed online that holds
images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways
- using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). A
VoiceThread can be shared with other teachers, students, and the wider community for them to
record comments too. Voicethreads can also be downloaded as a movie format but there is a cost for
this function.

Supported media formats
VoiceThread supports PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (including Office 2007 formats),
images, and videos. VoiceThread also imports photos from Flickr, Facebook, or the web.
Uses of Voicethread in Education
Voicethread is a very flexible tool so it can be used for a huge variety of uses
such as:
•
Orally publishing written work with art work displayed on the slide
•
Uploading speeches for comments and feedback
•
Describing methods for solving maths problems
•
Displaying videos of PE sessions for comment and feedback
•
Art portfolios describing processes used at each step or just as a simple
art gallery
•
Gathering perspectives on an idea or concept from the students
•
Sharing news or exciting events for students
•
Collecting comments from partner classes involved in collaborative
projects

Produced by Suzie Vesper

http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com

Getting started with VoiceThread
Creating a free Educator Voicethread account
1. Go to the Voicethread website at http://voicethread.com
2. Click ‘Sign in or Register’
3. Choose ‘Register’ in the left navigation and fill in the form to sign
up for VoiceThread. You will now have a free basic educator
account that will only allow you to create three VoiceThreads for
free.
4. For a free upgrade to a VT Educator account that allows you
to make 50 VoiceThreads, you need to contact VoiceThread.
From the VT landing page, Choose ‘About’, then ‘Contact’ and
select Choose ‘General feedback or feature request’ from the
contact options. Then fill in the form saying you want an
upgrade to VT educator using the email address you used to
register. They will email you when they have actioned the
upgrade.

Paid subscription options
Once you have used VoiceThread for a little while, you will probably start to see the benefits of a paid
subscription account. One of the biggest benefits is the ability to have student accounts that you can
easily manage. Below outlines each type of paid subscription (prices are in US dollars).

School license
Starts from $450/year

Produced by Suzie Vesper

http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com

Understanding the interface
Once you have logged in, you will be taken to the ‘My Voice’ page. This is where thumbnails of all
VoiceThreads you have made will be displayed along with any VoiceThreads you have had chosen to
‘Add to My Voice’ (a way of bookmarking favourite VoiceThreads made by other users). Click on the
thumbnails to open them. The tutorials created by the VT team will also display here for you to work
through.

View public VoiceThreads made
by other users

Create your own
VoiceThreads

View your own VoiceThreads and
ones you have bookmarked.

Creating a Voicethread
Uploading images, video clips, or documents
1. Once you have logged in click on the ‘Create’ tab and then
‘Upload’. Generally, you would choose the option ‘My Computer’.
‘Media sources’ allows you to use images from previous VTs and
from other online sources such as Flickr. You can also use your
webcam to take either a photo or video to use.
If using the ‘My Computer’ option, a window will open up into
your iPhoto library (on Macs) or a file browser window (PC)
2. Select the photos, video or document you want to upload.
You can hold down ‘Shift’ key to select more than one photo
in a row or the Ctrl (command key on macs) key to select
photos not all in a row.
3. The photos will then upload in the window. You can click and
drag photos in the window to reorder them. You can also add
titles and descriptions to the photos as well as adding
recordings or text to your slides when in the preview mode.

Produced by Suzie Vesper

http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com

Title for the entire
Voicethread
Title for the
specific slide

Adding a comment your VoiceThread
1. Click on ‘Comment’. This gives you a preview of how the Voicethread will
look and you can add a comment to set the scene or give instructions for
the VoiceThread.
2. Click on the word ‘Comment’ at the bottom of the
VoiceThread to see different commenting options.
Webcam video
comment
Comment by
phone message
(US only)

Record audio
comment (most
common)

Type a
comment
Upload sound file
comment

3. To record an audio comment with the 'Record' button, you will need
to have a microphone either attached or built in to your computer.
When you click on 'record', a pop-up window will appear that asks
you to allow Voicethread to use your audio and video on your
computer. Click on 'Allow'. Be aware that as soon as you do this,
Voicethread will then start recording directly afterwards so be ready
with what you want to say.
4. When you have finished your comment, click on 'Stop
recording', You will then be able to listen back to the
comment you have left. If you are happy with this, click
'Save'. Your comment will now appear around the outside
of the Voicethread slide.
5. If you have more than one slide in your Voicethread, you can use the big
arrow at the bottom right of the Voicethread to move you to the next slide
to repeat the process. You can click on the little squares next to the arrow
to see a view of all of the slides to jump to a specific slide.
Using the ‘Doodle’ tool while commenting
With Doodling, you can draw on top of the Voicethread slides as you record your
comment. This will be saved along with your recording and will be played back with
your comment. It has a range of uses such as highlighting part of an image you are
talking about or showing the ‘working out’ of a maths problem.
How to Doodle
1. You will see a circle with coloured circles around the outside when you are
recording a comment - this is the Doodle tool.

Produced by Suzie Vesper

http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com

2. You can click on a colour and then ‘doodle’ on the slide while talking - both the audio and the
doodle will be recorded in real time. The doodle will be replayed when someone plays back that
recorded audio.
3. The big circle in the middle can be solid coloured or half faded. This
controls whether or not the doodle ‘fades out’ over time or whether it
stays solid. You click on the circle to swap between the two options.
Oddly, when the middle circle looks faded, that is when the doodle doesn’t fade away and when
the middle circle is solid the doodle will fade away.

Your VoiceThread Account
Changing your account details and image
1. On the top right of the screen, there is a down arrow next to your email
address. Click on it and select ‘My Identities’.
2. Click ‘Edit’ next to your account name. This will give you the option to
change your account name and image.
Adding Identities to your VoiceThread Account
(for your students so they don’t need accounts themselves)
1. Click on the + sign next to 'Add an Identity’ and choose a name for the
identity.
2. Upload an image for that identity. You will need to have an image on your
computer ready to upload.

3. Click ‘Save’ when the big pop-up window opens showing the details for that identity.
4. Keep doing this until you have an identity for each child or group of children in your class.

A note on internet safety:
It is best to not include a last name if using a child’s name for an identity.
Remember that you should have a signed agreement from parents if you
use photos of the children. An alternative is to let the children create avatars
(visual representations of themselves) using some online tools or by making
a drawing to use in a tool like Kidpix. You could also scan in an image of
their artwork to use.

Produced by Suzie Vesper

http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com

Swapping Between Identities when Commenting
This is a relatively simple process. When you are signed in, you can see
the current identity image at the bottom left of any VoiceThread. Click on
this image and select another picture to change to that identity.

Publishing and playback options

There are many important settings and information in these options that run along the bottom
of the screen when you are creating a VoiceThread.
Playback Options
A Voicethread will play all the comments on a slide before automatically moving
to the next slide. You can change options for how this playback will behave.
There are also some useful security settings in here. You can choose if others
can download the media you have used or make a copy of your VoiceThread.
Export
With a free account, you don’t get any exports unless you purchase
them. Basically the VoiceThread can be downloaded as a movie file so
it can be viewed off line.
Embed
This is the option that provides you with the embed code for adding to blogs
and wikis. You can also share it to Facebook or Twitter.
Publishing options
Here you can decide how public your VoiceThread will be. I normally allow
anyone to view and leave comments but will not have it show up on the
VoiceThread Browse page if I want it to be private. People will then only know
the VoiceThread is there if you give them the link to it. If you tick ‘Moderate
comments’, the comment will only be visible to you until you ‘open’ it.

Where do I get further help?
Clicking on ‘Support’ on the right hand side within VoiceThread will take you to the ‘How to’
section with a lot of useful advice.
Also, if you are having issues with VoiceThread not working at school, you might need to
unblock some sites. These are listed under Support > Troubleshooting> What are the network
requirements for using VoiceThread?
You can also email me on suzievesper@gmail.com and will try to help!
Produced by Suzie Vesper